Anchor: After a proposed three-week timeline to resume working-level talks with North Korea came and went, U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signaled that there may be behind-the-scenes communication between Washington and Pyongyang.
Celina Yoon has more.

Report: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that there has been “very positive” correspondence recently with North Korea, but that no timeline yet exists to re-establish working-level denuclearization talks.

The revelation came when the president was asked by reporters if a schedule for talks with North Korea has been established. Trump said that it hadn't, and that the two sides will meet “when North Korea is ready.”

Trump also did not elaborate on the contents of the alleged correspondence, or whether it was a personal exchange akin to the back-and-forth letters between himself and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last month. 

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CBS on Monday that he hopes the talks will begin soon, adding in a separate interview with Fox News the same day that he hopes Pyongyang will return to the negotiating table with a “position that's different” than before.

He also clarified the goal of the negotiations, saying they are aimed squarely at denuclearizing North Korea “in a way that presents a lot less risk for the entire world.”

However, the North thus far has been seemingly recalcitrant to resume working-level talks and given little indication it will move off its previously stated position that a step-by-step scale down of its nuclear program be met with corresponding sanctions relief.

Furthermore, North Korea's Foreign Ministry last week criticized joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, warning that the resumption of talks would be affected if the exercises proceeded as scheduled.

With Washington saying the exercises will move forward and political attention fixed on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Congressional testimony this week, it seems likely that plans for talks with North Korea will be prolonged for the time being.
Celina Yoon, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : YONHAP News]